News

​Hearst Acquires Print and Digital Assets of The Hour (Norwalk) and Wilton Villager in Connecticut

Published on 04.13.16

Share This Page

NEW YORK, April 13,
2016 –
Hearst has acquired the print and digital assets of The Hour (Norwalk) and Wilton
Villager, which will become part of the Hearst Newspapers’ Connecticut
Media Group. With these two additions, Hearst’s Fairfield County media presence
includes a collection of five daily and six weekly newspapers, and a total of
14 websites including the Connecticut
Post, The News-Times in Danbury, Greenwich Time and The Advocate in Stamford.

The
announcement was made by Hearst President and CEO Steven R. Swartz, and Hearst
Newspapers President Mark Aldam.

“Bringing
The Hour and the Wilton Villager into our Connecticut group of media assets is a
natural fit,” Aldam said. “We intend to extend Hearst’s venerable news brand
across Fairfield County by deepening coverage of the Norwalk and Wilton
communities while offering business customers a more diversified set of media
solutions.”

Paul
Barbetta, group publisher and president of the Hearst Connecticut Media Group,
will oversee business and news operations for the new properties. “This is an
exciting and positive move for the Hearst Connecticut Media Group,” Barbetta
said. “We’re committed to Connecticut and view this acquisition as an
opportunity to strengthen our coverage across all of Fairfield County.”

“It
has been The Hour Publishing Company’s privilege to be a part of the Norwalk
community for over 100 years,” said Brett Whitton, president, The Hour
Publishing Company. “I am confident that Hearst will continue our unwavering
commitment and loyalty to Norwalk for many years to come.”

John
Szefc of W.B. Grimes & Company represented the seller in the acquisition.

About Hearst Newspapers

Hearst
Newspapers is the operating group responsible for Hearst’s newspapers, local
digital marketing services businesses and directories. With more than 4,000
employees across the nation, Hearst Newspapers publishes 15 dailies and 36
weeklies, including the Houston Chronicle,
San Francisco Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union. It also operates
digital marketing services and directories businesses under the LocalEdge
brand.

About Hearst
Connecticut Media Group

Hearst
Connecticut Media Group is comprised of five daily newspapers, Connecticut Post in Bridgeport, The News-Times in Danbury, The Advocate in Stamford, The Hour in Norwalk and Greenwich Time, and six weekly
newspapers including the Darien News,
Fairfield Citizen, New Canaan News, The Greater New Milford Spectrum, Westport News and Wilton
Villager. The Group manages 14 websites, including sites for all of its
papers, as well as TowerDigitalAgency.com, CTHouseHunter.com and InGearCT.com.

About Hearst

Hearst
is one of the nation’s largest diversified media, information and services
companies with more than 360 businesses. Its major interests include ownership
in cable television networks such as A&E, HISTORY, Lifetime and ESPN;
majority ownership of global ratings agency Fitch Group; Hearst Health, a group
of medical information and services businesses; 30 television stations such as
WCVB-TV in Boston and KCRA-TV in Sacramento, Calif., which reach a combined 19
percent of U.S. viewers; newspapers such as the Houston Chronicle, San
Francisco Chronicle and Albany Times
Union, more than 300 magazines around the world including Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s BAZAAR and Car and
Driver; digital services businesses such as iCrossing and KUBRA; and
investments in emerging digital and video companies such as BuzzFeed, VICE and
AwesomenessTV. Follow us on Twitter @HearstCorp
and subscribe to Hearstlink.